Cut Costs In Virgin Islands With Camping

December 30, 1990|By JEAN ALLEN, Advice and Dissent

Q. We know that summer and fall in the Caribbean are the low-price time of year, but we are not about to visit during hurricane season. So we would like to go in winter, even if it is the most expensive period. Do you have any ideas or advice on how to visit the Caribbean in winter on a fairly modest budget? -- Louise M., Fort Lauderdale

A. Here`s a suggestion for something I inspected on a trip but never have tried myself (but plan to): camping in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

I don`t mean roughing it in a tent or hauling gear out there on a plane. This is comfortable camping in a tentlike cottage in Virgin Islands National Park on the little island of St. John.

The overdevelopment of nearby St. Thomas won`t happen here, because three fourths of 9-mile-long St. John is national parkland, thanks to Laurance Rockefeller, who donated it to the government after developing his own luxury Rockresort, Caneel Bay, there.

Rockefeller`s land gift made St. John an island mostly for campers and millionaires. The former stay in comfortable tentlike cottages in the national park, the latter at Caneel Bay. Both share the same green, hilly, wooded terrain and nice Caribbean beaches. The in-betweens can find quite a few hotels in and near Cruz Bay, the island capital, and there`s a plethora of day-trippers who come over from St. Thomas.

At Maho Bay, which I think is the better of two nice national park campgrounds, three-room ``cottages`` (actually rigid-frame tents set on wooden platforms) are available. Everything, including kitchen equipment and bed linens, is furnished. At Cinnamon Bay, cement-block cottages and rigid tents are offered but cooking must be done outdoors. The park is so ecologically sensitive that Maho Bay campers walk on wooden boardwalks so their feet won`t disturb the delicate greenery beneath.

Fly to St. Thomas and hop a ferry from Charlotte Amalie (45 minutes) to St. John`s only town, Cruz Bay. Visit the National Park Visitors Center near the dock for maps, brochures and advice, then grab a cab to Maho Bay. Buy groceries at the commissary or dine at the campground restaurant. Rent a jeep one day to explore the island`s narrow, curvy, hilly roads, and visit Cruz Bay for duty-free shopping at Mongoose Junction or Lemon Tree Mall. Drop in to see how the rich folks vacation at Caneel Bay, and maybe spend some time at Shipwreck Landing, an island bar and grill that serves great conch fritters.

Join fellow campers for ranger-led hikes and at evening concerts or programs on St. John`s history, plants, animals and marine life. You`ll be comforted to learn that there are no poisonous snakes here, although there are some crotchety wild donkeys as well as mongooses and goats.

Rent snorkeling gear at the water sports center to explore the coral reefs, especially the ``underwater snorkeling trail,`` marked with red, white and blue flags, at Trunk Bay. Ambitious types can patronize the day sails, charter fishing boats, mopeds and riding stables.

Maho Bay cottages are $75 per night; the ferry from St. Thomas, round trip, is about $10 per person; a cab from Cruz Bay Dock round trip to the campground is about $16, and one-day jeep rental is about $45. Homebound, catch an early ferry back to Charlotte Amalie and hit the shops; you can take home up to $800 per person in duty-free purchases.

Take proof of citizenship (a voter registration card will do, a driver`s license is not enough, and a passport is best).

Virgin Islanders speak English and a Creole patois.

Q. We`re going to drive around Florida this winter, and I`m the pathfinder. One place I have read about is Seaside, somewhere in the Panhandle. Is it worth a stop? -- Alice B., Boca Raton

A. I haven`t been to Seaside, but I talked with Carmel Modica, a spokesman. I`ve read magazine stories about it, too, and they along with the brochures and booklets Modica mailed make it sound like a nifty little town I`d like to visit, although I`m not sure I`d want to live there.

Motorists driving along the Gulf of Mexico in the Panhandle must think they`re in a time warp when they see a turn-of-the-century New England coastal vacation village with pastel cottages, wide porches, picket fences, gazebos, beachside pavilions and red brick streets ... a sort of Victorian mirage.